Nicknames
by isobeljones2000
Summary: Tom considering Lexi's name on a long coach journey. Too long, in Lexi' s honest opinion. One shot. Tom/Lexi


**Nicknames**

Lexi was sitting there with Tom by her side. They were on the bus, and Lexi had forgotten where they're going. Tom said he wanted to take her somewhere, but that was an hour ago and they were still on the juddering coach that bounced Lexi out of her seat at every single little bump in the road. Lexi wouldn't say she was a particularly impatient person, but sitting there with only Tom's mundane chatter and casual flirting had got a little bit tiring after a while.

Plus, it was nearly December, and it was already freezing. At least, to human fragile skin it felt that way, though her old self would have argued that it wasn't freezing yet as the temperatures hadn't dropped below 0 degrees and technically nothing had frozen over or even iced yet...

"So Alexia, what do you feel like doing today?" Tom asked casually. Lexi looked at him sharply, wondering if he's joking.

"That's not even my name."

"Oh." Tom looked a little put out. "I always assumed Lexi was short for something. You know, like Beth or Lizzy is short for Elizabeth."

"I didn't know that," Lexi told him.

"Oh. Isn't Lexi short for something then? Like Alexis?"

"No. Just Lexi."

"What about Alexandra?"

"Nope."

"Lexalyn?"

"Just Lexi, Tom."

"Oh." Tom was silent for a few seconds and Lexi hoped he had dropped the subject, when he said again a moment later: "Tom is short for Thomas, you know. But no one but my gran calls me Thomas."

"I already know that," Lexi told him in slight exasperation.

"What about Nekross with long names? Like that Prince Vathallion you used to know. You told me about him. Was he always called Vathallion?"

"As far as I know," Lexi replied curtly.

"As, you see, he could have been nicknamed Vath, or Alli, or Lion, or Vathy, or -"

"Just Vathallion," the annoyed Nekross cut in.

"Right. Why do you Nekross have such weird names?"

"We're from a long way away. Things were - are different on Nekron. Including names."

"So Varg's not short for anything, either?"

"No. We Nekross pride ourselves on the complexity of very simple structures," Lexi said with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Right. Cos that doesn't sound like you said it straight out of a Nekross textbook at all."

Lexi flushed but regained her composure.

"Being the youngest, female and therefore inferior heir to the throne means I have to be perfect at all times or I will never be given recognition. Quoting out of textbooks is the best way to go about it. That way you're never wrong."

"Oh." Tom sounded like he didn't know what to say. And Lexi was feeling tears in her eyes just thinking of Nekron that she angrily blinked away before Tom could see them.

"You know, when I first met you and found out your name was Lexi, I wondered how you spelt it."

"There's different ways of spelling names?" Lexi asked wearily.

"Yes. You see, I know someone called Lexy with a y, and you can also spell it with an I and an E."

"Okay. Well mine's just spelt differently then," Lexi finished, hoping to drop the subject. Tom fell silent, but again, it didn't last long.

"So, not Alexa then."

"Tom!" Lexi said in exasperation.

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, sorry. But I do think you'd make a good Alexa."

"My name is Lexi, Tom," Lexi said firmly.

"Not Lucy, then?" he replied teasingly.

"I am not Lucy. I invented Lucy. You know that."

"Yeah..." he said. Did his voice sound wistful?

Once again, a few minutes later, Tom was the first to speak. "Don't you have nicknames on Nekron either?"

"What?"

"You know, like Benny always calls Quinn Quinnster, and Quinn always calls him Benny the Brain or Benzoid? Like that?"

Lexi considered. She could not remember a time when anyone had called her anything like that.

"My brother often addresses me as sister," she said tentatively.

"No. Not like that. Like you could be the Lexmeister, or Lexiloo."

Lexi laughed despite herself, saying somewhat incredulously: "Lexiloo?!"

"So, not the second one then. Maybe the first? You'd make a good Lexmeister."

"Why are you intent on changing my name? I prefer Lexi," Lexi protested.

"It's a term of endearment as you would probably put it," Tom told her.

"Well I like Lexi, thank you very much," Lexi said sharply, turning away from him slightly and folding her arms against the cold. Her teeth were chattering and there were goosebumps on her skin, despite the fact she wore Tom's jacket at his insistence, even though she had told him repeatedly that Nekross didn't feel cold. They sat there for a bit longer, then a stop was called out and Tom nodded.

"This is ours."

"Where are we going again?" Lexi asked.

Tom looked slightly embarrassed and said sheepishly with his crooked half smile: "I can't actually remember. But you'll like it."

"Okay..." Lexi said somewhat apprehensively.

Just as the bus pulled to a stop, Lexi felt Tom's arm slide around her shoulders. And his voice, soft and quiet.

"I like Lexi. Just the way you are."

**A/N) Well, maybe not the best I've ever written, but it came to me as quite a cute idea when I was walking to school. Hope you liked it!**


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